Presentationgroup 2:

 

Group members:

Christian

Ahmed

Marcel

Simone

Marion

 

 

Martin Lister: New Media and New Technologies

 

 

1.1 What are new media?

 

• vague term which is used to mean different things and to mark a break with history, is subdivided into three different senses:(9)

• 1. the ‘media’ as an institution: on the one hand it refers to ‘communication media’ and the institutions and organisations in which people work (the press, cinema, broadcasting, publishing,…) on the other hand to the cultural and material products of those institutions (the forms and genres of news, road movies,…)
• ‘the media’ (fully social institution) ↔ ‘new media’ (something far less settled, known and identified) (9f)
• 2. new media = cause and effect: it evoked different kinds of change (10f)

      -> shift from modernity to postmodernity

      -> intensifying processes of globalisation

      -> post-industrial information age replaces the industrial age of manufacturing

      -> decentring of established and centralised geo-political orders

• 3. new= better, social progress through technology (11)
• many digital new media are reworked and expanded versions of ‘old’ analogue media (e.g. TV) (11f)
• ‘new media’ actually refers to a wide range of changes in media production, distribution and use (but more than just technological changes, also textual, conventional and cultural) (13)

 

1.2 The Characteristics of New Media: Some Defining Concepts

 

• Key terms of new media: digitality, interactivity, hypertextuality, dispersal and virtuality (p.13)

 

1.2.1 Digital vs. Analogue

 

• All input data - in contrast to analogue media - is not converted into another physical object, but decoded and received as screen displays or can be output as hard copy
• Digital media do not represent a complete break, but are a continuation and extension of traditional analogue media (p. 14-15)
• Analogue media tend to be fixed (physical objects). Whereas digital media tend towards a permanent state of flux
• The relationship author/performer/creator and reader/spectator/interpreter become blurred and give way to a reading / writing continuum!  -> disappearance of the signature! (p. 16-17)

 

1.2.2 Interactivity

 

• I. is an opportunity to manipulate and intervene in media
• Two types: Ideological interactivity/Instrumental(functional) interactivity
• under the idea of interaction, new modes of engagement such as playing, experimenting and exploring arise (p. 19-21)
• Examples for interactivity:

-         hypertexual navigation

-         immersive navigation

-         registrational interactivity

-         interactive communications

• Problems arising from interactivity:

-         interpretation & definition problems:

how do we define interactive text? (experiences can differ between users)

-         problems for producers: how much control should be giver to the user, how much should be retained? (p. 21-23)

 

         

1.2.3 Hypertext

 

 

• describes a text which provides a network of links to other texts that are ‘outside, above, beyond’ itself (e.g. Wikipedia articles)
• characteristics: easy and instantaneous access, instantly accessible links, interventions and manipulations possible, interactivity, jump-link capability, totally beyond the author’s control (23-29)
•  ‘Cybertextuality’: machine, text and reader/user are all equally implicated in the production of meaning (p. 29f)

 

 

1.2.4 Dispersal

 

•  new media are dispersed in comparison to mass media, no clear distinction between consumers and producers

      -> consumption: decentralised, individual, not bound to time and place, many input/output connections

      -> production: within everyday life (photos, homepages, word documents,…), distinction between producer and consumer has broken down, breakdown of the professionals category     

      -> participation: from active interpretation to actual production (29-32)

 

 

1.2.5 Virtuality

 

•  ‘virtual reality’ is applied to several different forms of media and image technologies simultaneously:

-> ‘virtual’ in discussions of the internet and the world wide web; immersive, 3D, and  spectacular technologies; screen -based multimedia and in the transformation and convergence of older media as in digital cinema, video, and computer animation

      -> ‘virtual’ as a feature of post-modern cultures in which so many aspects of everyday

            experience are technologically simulated

• two reference points concerning to virtual reality:

      -> image environment: immersive, interactive experience       -> product of text: metaphorical ‘places and spaces’ created by or within

 

           communications network (34f)

 

1.2.7 Future Scenarios

 

• the concept of body seems to become detached from the identity that a person might assume
• digital simulation of the human body (high resolution)
• present cultural familiarity with virtual image forms
• further developments in the realms of computer animation / digital cinema
• cyber-science fiction (p. 36f)

 

 

 

 

Questions:

 

 

What are new media? What are the constituent parts of new media?

 

What is the difference between old and new media?

 

With what kind of changes are new media associated?

 

What is meant by the term “technological essentialism” and why is it according to Lister a “trap”?

 

What are distinctive features of digital media? What kind of shift(s) took place in the 20th century?

 

 

Can you name the pros and cons of the "digital letter"? What can be said about authorship?

 

By providing a wide range of interactivity, new media are more liberal and offer a greater consumer choice. Discuss this thesis!

 

What does the term interactivity mean?

 

What different kinds of levels are there within interactivity and what do they provide for the users?

 

Hypertext is a term which is widely used but rarely defined, what does it actually mean?

 

What is Bush trying to argue with his “Associate Linkage” in his essay “As We May Think”?

 

What is meant by “jump-link capability”?

 

What does Nelson mean with his “concept of hypermedia”?

 

Why do Bolter and Grusin call “hypermediacy” a crucial term in their theory of media?

 

It is argued that the literary apparatus of knowledge (e.g. books) is defined around sequential reading and writing, whereas hypertext offers the possibility of non-sequential reading and writing. Do you totally agree?

 

What is understood under the “post-structural literary criticism”?

 

What could be criticized about the post-structuralism?

 

On page 30 it is stated that “the principle of hypertext is key to understanding new media”. Why?

 

What are the differences of “mass media” and “new media”?  

 

Where does the desire for developments such as cyberspace lie?

 

What goals or purposes might attract the financial investment necessary for such technological developments?

 

In what way are experiences of self and identity mediated in a ‚virtual‘ space?

 

 

 

Feel free to comment on our draft and questions!

 

To the feedback group: Armin and I (Anina) are going to meet tomorrow (Tuesday) at 12 at the 'Liegewiese' to comment on the draft and questions.Please drop by if you find the time or post some of your ideas on this page as well!!!CU!